Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-06-24

out JOhn 10 Inc Lulu, who ODcyed, getting be
tween him and jess.
"Now, jess, hang on, and say your prayers,
for IL strikes me we shall have need of them
SO, horses, so!'
The horses backed and plunged, but Muller
on the one side and the smooth faced Bocr ON
the other dashed them without mercy, and at
last they went into the river with a rush.
The gust had passed now, and for a moment
or two there was renewed silence, except for
the whirl of the water and the snakeike hiss
of the coming rain.
For a few yards, ten or fifteen perhaps, all
went well, and then John suddenly discovered
that they were getting into deep water the
two leaders were evidently almost off their
legs, and could scarcely stand against the cur
rent of the flooded river
damn your he shouted back, "there is no
drift here"
"Go on go ON, it is all right" came Mul-
ler's voice in answer.
John said no more, but, putting out all his
strength, tried to get his horses round. jess
turned herself on the seat to look and Just
then came Il blaze of lightning which revealed
Muller and his two companions standing dis
mounted ON the bank, the muzzles of their
rifles pointing straight at the cart.
"Oh, God!' she screamed, "they are going
to shoot u.s.
Even as the words passed her lips three
tongues Of flame fared out from the rifles
mouths and the Zulu, Mouti, sitting by her
side, pitched heavily forward on TO his head
into the bottom of the cart, while one of the
whceers reared straight up into the air with
a shrek of agony and came down with a
splash into the river
And then followed n scene the horrors of
which battles my poor pen. Overhead the
storm burst in fury, and flash after flash of
fork, or rather of chain, lightning fell into
the river. The thunder too, began to crack
like the trump of doom; the wind rushed
down, tearing the surface of the water into
foars, and, catching under the tent of the
cart, lifted it clean off the wheels, so that it
began to float Then the two leaders, mad
with fear by the fury of the storm and the
dying struggles of the off wheeler, plunged
and tore at the traces till they actually rent
themselves loose and vanished between the
darkness overhead and the boiling water be-
I meath. Away loated the cart, now touching
the bottom and now riding on the water like
boat, oscillatng this way and that, and
slowly turning round and round. With it
foated the dead horse, dragging down the
other wheeler beneath the water. 1t was aw-
full to see his struggles in the glare of the
lightning, but at last he sank and choked.
And meanwhile, sounding sharp and clear
across the din and hubbub of the storm, came
the cracking of the three rifles whenever the
flashes showed the whereabouts of the cart to
the murderers on the bank Mouti was lying
still in the bottom on the bed plank, bullet
| between his broad shoulders and another in
his skull; but John felt that his life was yet
whole in him, though something had Missed
past his face and stung it. Instinctively he
reached across the cart and drew jess on to
his knee, and covered over her, thinking
dmly that perhaps his body uld protect
her from the bullets.
Rip rip! through the wood and canvas;
, phut! phut through the air; but some mer-
ciful power protected them, and though one
cut Johns coat and two passed through the
skirt of Jess dress not a bullet struck them
And very soon the shooting began to grow
wild, and then that dense vail of rain came
down and wrapped them SO close that even the
lightning could not show their whereabouts
to the asSassins on the bank.
"Stop shooting" said Frank Muller; "the
cart has sunk, and there is an end of them.
No human being can have lived through that
fire and the Naal in flood"
The two Beers ceased firing, and the Uni
corn shook his head softly and remarked to
his companion that the damned English peo
pie in the water could not be much wetter
than they We're on the bank 1t was a Curl
! GUS thing to say at such moment, but prob
ably the spirit that animated the remark was
not so much callousness as that which ami
mated Cromwell, who tipped the ink in his
neighbours face when he signed the death
warrant Of his king.
nIS Of MT
which he had forged. He must get it back
somehow, even if
LET us take shelter under the bank there
There is a fiat place, about fifty yards up,
where the bank lies over. This rain is
drowning us. We can't upsaddle till it
clears. | must have nip of brandy, too.
Almighty. | can see that girls face now!
the lightning shone ON it just rs | shot. Well,
she Will he in heaven now, poor thing, if
English people ever 20 to heaven
1t was the Unicorn who spoke, and the
Vildcrbeeste made no reply, but advanced
with him 10 where the horses stood. They
took the patient brutes that We're waiting for
their masters, their heads well down and the
water streaming from them and led them
along with them. Frank Muller stood by his
own horse thinking, and watched them
vanish into the gloom. How was he to get
that warrant back without dyeing his hands
even redder than they were,
As he thought, an answer came. For at
that moment, accompanied by fearful
thundcrclap, there shot from the storm over
head, which had now nearly passed away,
one of those awful flashes that sometimes end
an African tempest. 1t lit w the whole
scene round as light as day, and right in the
white heart of it Muller saw his two com
a.,
king saw the men in the furnace They We're
about forty PAGES from him, on the crest Of
the bank He saw them, ono moment erect;
the next-men and horses falling this way
and that, prone TO the earth. And then it
was all dark again. He staggered with the
shock, and when it had passed rushed to tine
spot, calling the men by name; but no an
swer came, except the echo of his voice. He
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